Clausing cross slide

It allows you to set up two independent tools on the carriage, very common on ram-type turret lathes. This pic shows a typical setup with a turning tool on the front and a cutoff on the back.

I suspect you may have a turret lathe. With this option they did not have the normal compound.

It looks very similar to the slide in your photo. The lathe has a regular tailstock and no turret, so I don't think it was originally set up ar a turret lathe. It would be nice to be able to set a compound of some sort on the T slots, but I'm not sure if it would wind putting the tool post up to high relative to the center height.

I know Clausing did offer some of their lathes with turrets in place of the tailstock, and I once had a 16" Southbend set up that way. I think Don Nichols has a Clausing turret lathe - you might want to get his attention if he doesn't pop in.

It seems reasonable that since Clausing was already making your style of cross slide for turret lathes, they may have offered it as an option on the engine lathes.

My used 5914 included both a bed turret and standard tailstock as well as the standard cross slide and a production cross slide. It's fairly easy to swap between the TS and bed turret and I suspect that swapping the cross slides is only a bit more difficult, but I've never had the need to do that. If the OP can find a standard compound he will probably find it easy to install it.

The bed turret has some advantages for drilling large deep holes in harder to machine materials, like SS.

Mike

Mike, I think I'll give Clausing a call Monday and see if they can tell me what other lathes they made that might have a topslide/cross slide which might interchange. I'm pretty sure a new replacement would have a scary price. The existing cross slide is in mint condition, very tight gibs and 0.004 backlash on the screw so, I don't think it was used a whole lot. I can see it would be a more rigid setup than the conventional TS. Maybe I can find someone who would want to their swap CS/TS for my turret type bed + some $$$...

It is for use with a bed turret in place of a tailstock. Most of the turning is done by fixtures in the turret -- turning to diameter (box tool) external threading (Geometric die heads), internal threading (either releasing tap holders for smaller threads, or Geometric collapsing taps for larger threads), knurling (several styles of knurling tools), end drilling (bits in chucks in the turret), reaming (floating self-aligning reamer holder) and other things which I'm probably overlooking.

The fancy cross slide will likely have one tool (upside down parting tool) in the back tool holder (which you are missing), and perhaps a tool to bevel the workpiece in the front tool holder.

Does it have a longitudinal leadscrew? If so, I'll bet that it is in excellent condition. Mine was on my 12" which came with the bed turret, but the standard cross-slide and compound. All the threading had been done with Geometric style tools, so there was almost no wear on the leadscrew or half-nuts. There was a threading dial -- in one of the drawers. It had never been mounted to the carriage. :-)

Hmm ... you might be able to make a ring which bolts down to the T-slots to hold down a normal compound -- perhaps from a 12" lathe, which may be more common.

Take the model number and serial number and contact Clausing Service Center. They'll happily sell you for very little a photocopy of the manual adapted to the serial number of your machine. They can also probably tell you what year it was sold -- and to whom. (Mine was 1957, and sold to a machine dealer in New York -- not to the end user.)

Good Luck, DoN.

I did. :-)

Or -- some previous owner may have chased down the tailstock to fit it, and sold off the turret. It mounts just like the tailstock, except that there is a clamp at each end, held by two Allen-head cap screws at each end.

I had to track down a standard tailstock for mine -- but I kept the turret, as it is very useful at times. I wish that I had the alternate cross-slide too -- but yours would not fit my lathe 13" vs

12", and I would want to keep my standard one as well. I think that they can be swapped at the dovetail between the cross-slide and the carriage.

BTW -- does your cross-slide have a crank and leadscrew, or a lever feed? Some of these had the latter, as it was quicker to use in production -- where you were not using the cross-slide to turn specific diameters.

Good Luck, DoN.

It has the crank and lead screw. Seems to have had very little use on the bed ways, cross slide and tailstock, but oddly the headstock looks well used.